Morphometric Analysis of Adult Dermacentor parumapertus Neumann (Acari: Ixodidae) From Various Locations Within its Geographical Range

ORCID

Moraru: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4361-7540; Portugal: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7108-098X; Goddard: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2617-7141

MSU Affiliation

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology

Creation Date

2026-09-30

Abstract

Dermacentor parumapertus Neumann (Acari: Ixodidae), a tick primarily associated with rabbits which occurs over much of the western United States, has a fairly large north-to-south distribution, being found from central Idaho southward into northern Mexico. This mostly obscure tick species has recently been the focus of attention due to the discovery of a unique strain of Rickettsia parkeri associated with it which appears closely related to a Rickettsia sp. found in the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil. Historically, a morphological variety of this species was reported in the literature based on significant variation in ornamentation of the tick throughout its range. This study examines several key morphological characters to determine if there are indeed more than one distinct population of this species throughout its range.

Keywords

systematics, morphology, evolution, distribution, taxonomy

Publication Date

2-27-2018

Publication Title

Journal of Medical Entomology

Publisher

Oxford University Press; Entomological Society of America

First Page

871

Last Page

876

Rights

© The Author(s) 2018

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Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjy009